


familiar faces

by pissedofsandwich



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Meeting the Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 17:21:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6997627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pissedofsandwich/pseuds/pissedofsandwich
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"My name is Alec," he says. "Selamat datang di Amerika."</p><p>Magnus' mother laughs heartily. To Magnus, she questions, "You've been teaching him Indonesian?"</p><p>Magnus shakes his head. "No. You didn't tell me you learned Indonesian! Did you Google translate it? Did you Catarina translate it?" </p><p>"Well, I Google translated and Catarina translated it," Alec shrugs. "How's my pronunciation?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	familiar faces

**Author's Note:**

> SOME IMPORTANT NOTES: i love harry shum jr. he is an amazing person and an amazing magnus. but he's not indonesian. magnus is indonesian. i love both magnuses, but i love any representation of indonesian people more, so. i'm basically playing around with the show's depiction of characters—hence i only tagged the show. magnus' backstory is not canon, it's just me playing around with possibilities. wulan is not magnus' mother's name. i don't think it was ever confirmed??? idk man i don't read bane chronicles.
> 
> this is purely self-indulgent. i was feeling super bad about the lack of asian representation in everything and i wanted to reassure myself that one day i would get to see my face on the cinema.

Alec is nervous. He knows Magnus can see it, and he's glad the older man chooses to say nothing about it. Instead, Magnus latches himself onto Alec's arms and begins to run a commentary about the people around them, mostly judging their fashion choices.

The airport is crowded. The arrival lounge is no exception. It's to be expected; Christmas is in four days, and everyone wants to be back home to spend time with their families.

They're waiting for Magnus' mother.

It will be her first her first time visiting America, and Alec is desperate to impress her. Magnus describes her as petite, with kind eyes and a smile that bring cities peace in an instant. Magnus loves her—after his father walked out on them, his mother is all that's left for him. Leaving her for America was the hardest decision Magnus ever made, and Magnus is beyond happy to finally see her, now that his business is a success and he can buy her a first-class ticket to New York.

Alec rehearses the Indonesian phrase for 'welcome to America' in his head, practices his pronounciation of Wulan—Magnus' mother's name—also in his head. He's embarrassed that he's this nervous, but he can't help himself. It's important to Magnus, so it's more important to Alec than anything.

"Look at that brave girl with short shorts," Magnus says. "I don't trust people who can wear shorts in the winter. She must be some kind of goddess."

Alec laughs. "Izzy can wear tank-tops in winter."

"My mom would be super jealous," Magnus says. "She's a true tropical islander. It's either rainy or sunny for her."

Magnus' great-great-great- _something_ grandparents were originally farmers from China. When the Dutch began colonizing Asia, they contracted Chinese farmers to practice agriculture in Indonesia. Under the protection of the Dutch, they migrated, and lived there. There were already Chinese settlements along the north coast of Java, so fitting in wasn't difficult. The Chinese immigrants ended up building a huge community, especially in Jakarta, then known as Batavia.

Magnus' mother gave birth to him in 1986, and Magnus spent most of his childhood in the Capital City. And then the anti-Chinese movement started during the New Regime, and Magnus and his mother could not bear to face the discrimination. He and his mother fled the country when the Chinese genocide started in 1998. They came back to their relatives in China, but Magnus' mother were born and raised in Indonesia. She never got used to the winter.

"It's a good thing we fixed the heater in our apartment," Alec says.

"It's a very good thing," Magnus agrees. "Alec, I'm too short. Can you see any small Asian woman in there somewhere? She told me she'd be wearing blue."

Alec cranes his neck to get a better view. Unfortunately, there are a lot of Asian women wearing blue today, for some reason. "Uh, you gotta be more specific," Alec worries.

"Well, the shade of the blue isn't exactly _cyan_ , it's more—"

"Not the color," Alec says pointedly.

"Right, I forgot. You seriously thought orange is the new black," Magnus grins.

Alec groans. "You'll never live that down, will you?"

"Nope," Magnus' smile widens. "Keep looking, pretty boy. My mom isn't exactly that hard to find. Petite, tan skin, black hair. Her blue outfit is probably a floral vintage dress. How many Asians are there in the airport, anyway? There can't be _that_ much."

Alec raises one eyebrow pointedly. Magnus rolls his eyes. "Okay, okay, so there _are_ a lot, but my mom is the only one and only. Like you see her, and you already know it's her."

Before Alec can reply, a woman's voice interrupts. "Magnus?"

Seeing the change in Magnus' expression as he realizes just who had called his name is like stepping into the Louvre for the first time. His eyes widen a little, then his mouth forms a little 'o', and then it's just the sun Alec's staring at, his smile so bright as he hugs his mom. It would be their first hug in nearly a decade.

"Mama!" It's the voice that Magnus uses when he's really happy about something but is trying to contain it as to not overwhelm the people around him, half between shrieking and shouting. "I miss you sooo much!"

"I miss you too," Magnus' mother says. Alec catches a little of Magnus' accent in her voice, when he's been talking a lot to her over the phone in Indonesian and comes back pronouncing his 'r's and 'g's different. "Have you been well? _Makan banyak_?"

" _Banyak banget_ ," Magnus answers. Alec doesn't know what that means, but from the way Magnus is smiling, it has to be a good thing. " _Alec masak kayak koki dari hotel bintang lima. Dia udah masak semur ala Amerika buat makan malam nanti, pasti Mama suka_."

Alec takes the mention of his name as a cue to introduce himself. He extends his hand, hoping his smile doesn't look too awkward. He remembers Catarina telling him about _sungkem_ , the Indonesian version of a handshake, and does that. To his delight, Magnus' mother seems pleased.

It's still no comparison to the way Magnus looks now, though.

"My name is Alec," he says. " _Selamat datang di Amerika_."

Magnus' mother laughs heartily. To Magnus, she questions, "You've been teaching him Indonesian?"

Magnus shakes his head. "No. You didn't tell me you learned Indonesian! Did you Google translate it? Did you Catarina translate it?" 

"Well, I Google translated and Catarina translated it," Alec shrugs. "How's my pronunciation?"

"It needs a lot of work," Magnus' mother says. "But we have a lot of time to practice. You people here in America call your elder by the name. It's very impolite where I came from, but you seem like a nice man. You can call me Wulan."

"Wow, first-name basis already," Magnus stage-whispers. "Honey, you're doing so well already."

Alec has been dating Magnus for nearly two years now. They've had tons of sex, seen each other at their worst and best, and still being called pet names by Magnus is making him flustered. "Ah, well," Alec says, wanting to tell Magnus that he was trying to impress Magnus' mother— _Wulan_ , his brain supplies—but not wanting to come off as desperate. "I mean, it's part of your culture, so. I wanna learn about it. Not, like, because I think your culture is exotic or because of other fetishizing stuff. It's a huge part of who you are, and, well, I want to be part in it, so."

Magnus looks positively touched by it. But he also looks like he wants to kiss the life out of Alec, so Alec's not entirely sure.

"Um," he turns to Wulan. "May I?" He is gesturing to the red suitcase with a dog-shaped tag strapped on it. The dog is waving, and the speech bubble above proclaims, _Wulandari - JKT_. He wonders why there isn't Bane following behind her name, and he deduces JKT stands for Jakarta, not her maiden name. But Alec can always ask later.

Right now, Wulan is patting Magnus' shoulder appreciatively, saying, " _Mama suka sama dia_." There's the sun-bright smile again on Magnus' face again, so Alec can only assume Wulan is saying good things about their relationship. It's an amazing start, especially since Alec isn't exactly a charmer when it comes to mothers. His own mother still can't look him in the eye at family dinners.

He has a feeling, though, that it's going to be different with Wulan.

**Author's Note:**

> Makan banyak? - Have you been eating a lot?  
> Banyak banget - A lot.  
> Alec masak kayak koki dari hotel bintang lima. Dia udah masak semur ala Amerika buat makan malam nanti, pasti Mama suka. - Alec cooks like a chef from a five-star hotel. He cooked American-style semur for dinner, you (Mom) would like it.  
> Selamat datang di Amerika. - Welcome to America.  
> Mama suka sama dia. - I like him.


End file.
